Bigger tank - No zeo

[Naptalene]

Hi all, long time lurker here.

I was wondering if anyone could give some thoughts on this.
I have a TINY sps tank. 80L with Sump, Full zeo.
I am quite happy with where I'm at in terms of growth and colours are alright.... but I'm loving ZEO. I enjoy fiddling etc. and it lets me do something everyday.... here's the humdinger. I would like to get a bigger tank.

My current ideas are for 120cmx60cmx50cm-360L(48x24x20 - 80G) but after doing the maths I'm not sure the costs asscoiated with stone changes etc. are viable for me. It's fine on the tiny tank as everything lasts for what seems forever.

Are there any guys who succesfully ran zeo and moved away, and havent looked back?

And where are we in terms of current thinking on SPS setup filtration?
I was pondering a big-*** skimmer, Carbon dosing and relatively low bio-load? My maintenance tends to be very good so I reckon I can keep that clean.

My other option is to go for an overly wide 24" tank that gives me about 32G and then Zeo is still fine in terms of money.

I'm sitting on the fence so badly I would appreciate any thoughts on this.
Big tank = more corals and it just looks more "real" IMHO
Small Tank = I lose the "Real" look but I can tweak away.

Thanks in Advance

 

[cugly]

The initial set up is costly for a bigger tank but to maintain is not that bad i had 150 water volume and it was not to bad. Those bottles last long and the only thing i buy every month is the stones .
Now i am running a hybrid zeo system.

 

[Naptalene]

Fair point, thanks.
You mentioned a hybrid system, what are you running?

 

[cugly]

Fair point, thanks.
You mentioned a hybrid system, what are you running?

No zeolites i started the tank with zeo start , zeobac , and sp..same way you would with 14 day cycle but i also have a fuge..now i am to the point where i add start only maybe twice a week my po4 is 0 and my no3 is zeo i am supplementing with AA, CV. Xtra special , i use coral snow with bac to maintain bacteria and i also add bacter 7..its doing great so far.

 

[Naptalene]

That's where I was thinking of going lol.
I want mandarins so the Fuge is high up on my list.
As you said, the additives are expensive but they last forever. My biggest worry currently is Zeobac etc. Going off because I use such tiny amounts. I worked it out and it's on par than running with most other systems Price wise, but I don't have to buy as regularly.

 

[williewilliams]

I run a zeo tank and start up is a bit expensive but the cost of keeping it up is not much different than any other method roughly.

 

[Naptalene]

Thanks. I'm wondering more and more if a smaller tank is possibly the better way. Pretty much the only price hike compared to my current tank would be stones.